Aquariums Considering Collaboration Backers Of Tacoma Project To Meet With Seattle Officials

Backers of an aquarium project planned for a Tacoma waterway will meet with leaders of an expanded Seattle Aquarium to see whether the two facilities can work together.

Tacoma hopes to use public and private money to build a $50 million aquarium on the Thea Foss Waterway. The facility, called Northwest Waters Aquarium, would open by 2001.

Thirty miles to the north in Seattle, city officials plan to tear down the existing waterfront aquarium and build a $100 million facility in its place in five to 10 years.

“What we wanted to talk about was ways that we could collaborate,” said Tom Otten, director of the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. He has scheduled a meeting with Cindi Shiota, director of the Seattle Aquarium, and others for next week.

Although plans for Tacoma’s new facility are still preliminary, Otten said it’s important to discuss not duplicating exhibits.

“If we were building a zoo all over again, I think we’d want to make sure we weren’t doing the same thing as Seattle,” he said.

The new Seattle aquarium will spotlight sea life of the Pacific Rim, while Tacoma’s aquarium would tell the story of the Northwest’s ecosystems.

A study commissioned by the Executive Council for a Greater Tacoma said a Tacoma aquarium would succeed even with a world-class facility in Seattle, said the council’s executive director David Allen.

“So we are anxious not to compete, but the study proves that the two institutions, even if they didn’t cooperate, would be successful,” he said. “Now, how much better (the two) would be if we did cooperate is the big opportunity.”